VPRS 14363 Register of Applications, Sections 344 and 346 Land Act 1901 (Occupation Branch)

VPRS 14363 is the Register of Applications, Sections 344 and 346 Land Act 1901 maintained at the Occupation Branch of VA 538 the Department of Crown Lands and Survey.VPRS 14363 was previously registered as Unit 63 of VPRS 458 / P Applications Registers, Land Act Unknown.The Settlement on Lands Act 1893 was passed with a view to providing an outlet for the unemployed labour of Victoria through the establishment of three main types of rural settlement. Village Communities was one of these three.The Governor in Council could proclaim land for this purpose which could be then divided into allotments of between one and twenty acres. Under Section 5 of the Act (Section 318 of the Land Act 1901), a permit to occupy a village community allotment could be granted for three years at a nominal rental. After that time a lease for up to twenty years could be applied for if certain conditions, as set by regulations, had been met. The price of an allotment was to be no less than one pound per acre and was to be paid in forty half yearly instalments. For a Crown grant to be obtained at the end of the period, the lessee had to pay this sum, repay any advances made and the post of the survey of the land. As well, the lessee or his family was to reside on the land with certain proportions to have been brought into cultivation within specified time periods.It was recognised relatively soon that not all the land allocated by the Board of Land and Works was suitable for village settlements and that 20 acres was an inadequate area for a settler to make a living. As a consequence, Section 346 of the Land Act 1901 for landholders to acquire more land to, with the original holding, the value of two hundred pounds.In Section 344 of the same act, occupiers, whether lessees or under permit, of swamp land under the conditions of village settlement or homestead association could apply for a conditional purchase lease or a perpetual lease with credit being given for rent already paid and for improvements made.